TKcricket

Group B Preview

Bertus de Jong 15/04/22

While the rather drastic Topklasse restructure that sees the competition expanded to 12 teams and then split into two groups for the first phase of the competition has rather divided opinion, it’s probably too early to say whether there are any clear winners or losers from the introduction of the one-off 2022 format. The easing of global travel restrictions and consequent influx of overseas players for the coming summer will naturally reshuffle the relative strengths of the teams, especially as clubs have not all availed themselves of the reopened borders to the same extent, yet whether by luck or judgement the two pools seem to have come out comparatively well-balanced.

2021 runners-up Voorburg CC have made by a distance the most eye-catching signings for the coming season, with South Africa international Janneman Malan added to the VCC roster for the first phase of the competition, and Malan’s elder brother Andre replacing him for the back end of the summer. North West Dragons seam all-rounder Delano Potgieter will also feature for the first half of the season, strengthening a pace attack that also boasts the returning Logan van Beek and fellow Netherlands internationals Vivian Kingma and Bas de Leede, as well as Ali Qasim Ahmed and the veteran Stef Mulder.

VCC will hope de Leede’s pre-season form with the bat continues, the skipper likely to shoulder more responsibility in the middle order in the absence of the injured Sybrand Engelbrecht and Aryan Dutt, who has moved to VRA. In addition to the South African trio, brothers Musa and Shariz Ahmed will also be turning out for VCC this season, occasional Netherlands opening bat Musa coming from HCC and national under 19s spinner Shariz arriving from Groen & Wit. The latter will join legspinner Philippe Boissevain in the slow-bowling section, and with the unheralded but dependable Mohit Hingorani behind the sticks there’s few obvious weaknesses in the Voorburg side.

VCC’s chief concern will likely be the demands placed on their Dutch internationals by Oranje’s hectic summer schedule, but if they can keep something close to a full strength team on the park through the season they look like strong contenders to take the title.

Conversely 2021 bronze-medallists VRA have seen a number of departures and retirements over the winter, with Dutch international Ben Cooper taking early retirement and the stalwart Eric Szwarczynski also hanging up his boots. Pace spearhead Quirijn Gunning will also be unavailable, having cycled off in the general direction of Australia, while promising young spinner Luke Hartsink is also understood to have stepped back from the game. With plans to bring the iconic Nepali pace duo Sompal Kami and Karan KC to the Bos having fallen through at the last minute, the Amsterdammers are left looking rather bereft of star power and generally threadbare.

They will look to the ever-improving Vikram Singh to both deliver on his promise at the top of the order and shoulder more responsibility with the ball, likely opening the bowler with southpaw Ashir Abid. The arrival of Singh’s fellow Dutch-international Aryan Dutt from VCC will go some way to shoring up both the batting and bowling, With Jack Balbirnie and veteran gloveman Mitch Lees both enjoying solid but unspectacular seasons last year, much will depend on evergreen skipper Peter Borren’s form with the bat, the former national captain also likely to play a holding role with the ball through the middle overs.

Offspinner Leon Turmaine will lend some experience in the slow-bowling department, but VRA will be relying to a great extent youth be it local youngsters such as Udit Nashier, Debrup Dasgupta and Shirase Rasool or two new arrivals – untested South African rookies Johan Smal and Eduard Visser the club’s only overseas acquisitions for the season. All told the venerable Amsterdam club looks to be heading toward something of a transitional phase, and without any high-profile pros will likely be happy enough merely to survive in the top flight another year.

Similarly VOC Rotterdam will be doing without any big-name overseas for the coming season, with sometime VCC-er Matt Smith the Rotterdammer’s only major foreign signing. Sparta quick Max Hoornweg has also come across from Capelle, but with former Netherlands seamer Ahsan Malik going the other way and all-rounder Dirk van Baren bowing out, the pace attack remains reliant on Pierce Fletcher and the veteran Jelte Schoonheim. While Netherlands skipper Pieter Seelaar remains a force with both bat and ball, his workload will have to be carefully managed given a demanding schedule and a dodgy back, likely asking more of young fingerspinners Arnav Jain and Siebe van Wingerden.

Van Baren’s retirement, coupled with Corey Rutgers again resolving to demote himself from the first team, also leaves the batting looking rather top-heavy. Though in Dutch internationals Max O’Dowd and Scott Edwards VOC have an enviable opening pair, the middle order looks comparatively fragile and Tim de Kok may be asked to rein in his naturally aggressive tendencies at three. While the quality of VOC’s Dutch internationals means a top three finish in the first phase is well within reach, should they fail to make the cut they may struggle at the business end of the season, given their limited depth and the Netherlands’ intense international schedule.

Excelsior ‘20 Schiedam have had a rather lean couple of years since taking the title in 2019, twice finishing in the lower half of the table. They’ll be looking to improve on that showing at least, though they will have to do without their most valuable player from last season, as the prolific Tristan Stubbs won’t be returning to Thurlede this season. In his place comes a familiar face in the form of Northern Districts’ seam all-rounder Brett Hampton who returns to the club after a decade’s absence. He joins Schiedam stalwart Lorenzo Ingram to make up a formidable overseas duo that will likely be key to the 2019 champion’s fortunes both with bat and ball.

For the rest the line-up looks both familiar and familial, with the Excelsior youth production line ensuring a steady supply of van Troosts, Etmans and Kroesens. To challenge for a top three spot Excelsior will need their home-grown players to provide rather more in the way of runs than in seasons past – keeper-opener Roel Verhagen the only local bat to have managed more than 250 runs across the last two seasons. Pre-season showings against ACC and Punjab have promised some improvement in that regard, but Excelsior’s principle strength remains their disciplined bowling attack, while none of Niels Etman, Rens van Troost, Tom Heggelman or Klaas Roelfsema bowl express pace, the Shciedam seam section is notoriously difficult to get away, while in the spin section Ingram remains a stand-out and Umar Baker has thrived at Thurlede since making the move from VOC.

With a solid pre-season behind them and enjoying the good fortune of playing their first match against VCC before the cavalry arrives for Voorburg, Excelsior look set to get their season started on the right foot, but in a significantly stronger field they will need to recapture their winning ways in quick time if they are not to end up in the wrong half of the table again.

2021 Hoodfklasse champions Salland CC will be making what is technically their debut in the top-flight this season, the Deventer-based outfit now independent from the venerable multi-sport club Koninklijke UD that last contested the top division in 2000. Yet like their predecessors, the team is dominated by scions of the Lubbers family, with all-rounder Victor captaining the side and his brother Reinder leading the seam attack, while Curtis and Desmond Lubbers also occasionally feature in the first team, and indeed patriarch Steven Lubbers made a brief first-team return at the recent ECN T10 tournament at Capelle.

In recent years Salland have also established a strong German connection, with numerous members of the German national team featuring in their successful Hoofdklasse campaign. There has been something of a changing of the guard in that respect, with Hamid Wardak and Vijay Chikkannaiah heading back to Germany for the 2022 season, but left-arm spinner Elam Barathi and seam all-rounder Sahir Naqash will be joined by the national captain Venkat Ghanisan and finger-spinner Ghulam Ahmadi for the upcoming Topklasse season.

While the German contingent are at least in part responsible for the club’s promotion to the top flight, their potential international commitments may well leave Salland short of players when the German national team are in action. While with the likes of Lubber, Gul Nasir and Gijs van Molen they don’t lack for depth in the seam bowling department, the batting is a different question, especially as overseas signing Justin Gilliland may not be available for the whole season. Should Salland manage to pick up some early wins while at full strength a top three finish in the first phase would secure their place in the top-flight for another year, with potentially three teams facing relegation this season an immediate return to the Hoofdklasse is far from out of the question either.

Since their 2015 title run, Amsterdammers Dosti-United have been in something of a slump, recording just a single win over the last two seasons and at times struggling to get 11 men on the field. Yet while the Drieburgers are keeping their cards close to their chest ahead of the 2022 season, rumour has it that after two years of belt-tightening they are once again prepared to dip into the war chest. The rumoured return of sometime South Africa international Stiaan van Zyl has been the principle subject of gossip, but one that appears to have proved unfounded. Kings XI all-rounder Shivam Sharma is another name that has been floating around, along with Punjab’s Amitoze Singh.

The addition of a handful of overseas could potentially transform Dosti from top-flight whipping boys to title-contenders at a stroke, with the local core of the side having had to step up in the interim and despite the run of results looking arguably the stronger for it. Skipper Vinoo Tewarie had an intermittently impressive season despite missing out on his side’s sole victory, and likewise Rahil Ahmed showed occasional flashes of the form that once earned him a brief career in Orange. Spin all-rounder Mahesh Hans has similarly grown into his senior role in the side, while pace spearhead Wahid Masood also bowled consistently better than his figures might suggest. With the Hoseinbaks brothers rounding out the side Dosti have never looked more than two or three players short of a decent team, and with a few judicious acquisitions could well emerge from two woeful seasons as dark-horse contenders.

Group A preview

Rod Lyall 12/04/22

For the first time in its 132-year history the Dutch top flight men’s competition will be played in two groups this season, and the teams’ first target will be to finish in the top three of their pool, thus giving themselves a crack at the Topklasse title in the second phase.

At first glance it looked as if Group A might be distinctly the weaker of the two, but with a returning influx of overseas players after the pandemic-induced drought of the past two years and some significant transfers it may prove a tougher challenge than first thought.

2021 champions, Punjab Rotterdam, have made the bold decision to do without any overseas imports, and will largely stay with their winning combination from last season.

With the four Zulfiqar brothers at the top of their order, along with (now former) international opener Steph Myburgh and all-rounder Teja Nidamanuru, they have plenty of power with the bat; whether Myburgh is regularly available remains to be seen, but Punjab fans will be hoping he can reproduce the scintillating form with which he bowed out of the international arena in New Zealand a couple of weeks ago.

The parsimonious seam attack of skipper Suleiman Tariq, Sohail Bhatti, Sikander Zulfiqar and Mubashar Hussain, now joined by Belgian-based, former VOC player Ashiqullah Said, is likely to further trouble opposing batting sides, and with the spin options of Nidamanuru, Saqib Zulfiqar, Irfan ul Haq and possibly the veteran Muhammad Hafeez, Punjab will again be a tough proposition, especially on their bijou ground at Rotterdam’s Zomercomplex.

After last season ended controversially with claims and counterclaims of racist behaviour, HCC will be keen to make a fresh new start, and although they have lost opener Musa Nadeem Ahmad to Voorburg they have compensated for this by acquiring two overseas players, New Zealander Tim Pringle and Australian Zac Worden.

Left-armer Pringle is the son of former New Zealand international Chris, who played for HCC and then for one season with VRA between 1996 and 2001, taking 264 wickets at an average of 11.27, and the Diepput club will be extremely happy if Tim is able to come anywhere close to that kind of effort.

Worden is coming off the back of a successful season opening the batting for his Tea Tree Gully club in the South Australian first grade and was recently selected for the state’s second team; he will slot into the space vacated by Ahmad, and should add solidity to a line-up which showed a tendency to fragility last year, despite the presence of Boris Gorlee, now a Dutch international, Tonny Staal and Damian Crowley.

On the other hand, HCC’s pace attack of Hidde Overdijk, Reinier Bijloos and Olivier Klaus is as menacing as any in the competition, and Clayton Floyd, last year’s leading wicket-taker with 37 wickets at a miserly 7.32, will have benefited from his experience with the Dutch national side over the winter.

Consistently there or thereabouts in recent seasons without ever hitting the heights, HBS Craeyenhout have, like Punjab, opted for the mixture as before.

They will welcome back South African Tayo Walbrugh, who had an outstanding start to last season and finished with 780 runs at an average of 65.00, and Dutch passport holder Ryan Klein, whose sharp pace earned him a place in Ryan Campbell’s national squad this winter; he will be joined by younger brother Kyle, who has already played for the Dutch under-19 side, and the squad will be under the guidance of another South African, Gavin Kaplan, who is part of the coaching team at Gary Kirsten’s academy.

For the rest, HBS will have the experience of skipper Ferdi Vink and mercurial opener Tobias Visée, while they will be hoping that former international star batter (and occasional deadly off-spinner) Wesley Barresi will be more regularly available than the six games he played last season.

They will also be looking for further progress from their emerging talents: allrounders Navjit Singh and Julian de Mey, seamer Benno Boddendijk, and young keeper Martijn Scholte. All told, HBS should certainly be in the mix for one of those top three places.

Among the dark horses of Group A will be promoted side Kampong Utrecht, returning to the top flight after a 24-year absence.

They have signed Auckland wicketkeeper-batter Cole Briggs, who will join South African Pite van Biljon, who enjoyed two successful seasons with the Utrecht club in 2011-12 and who has since played in ten T20Is for South Africa.

Led by the evergreen Usman Malik, the Kampong squad is not short of youthful talent, with under-19 international off-spinner Pierre Jacod, seamer Kertan Nana, the leading wicket-taker in the Hoofklasse last year with 19 at 9.26, and opener Alex Roy all likely to relish the opportunity to move up a level.

There is plenty of experience, too, with seamer Sean Trouw, Shivdutt Singh Jhala, Vikram Chaturvedi, Sandeep Abhyankar, Ratha Alphonse, Saurabh Zalpuri and Robert van der Harten all likely to play a part; with Briggs and Van Biljon to spearhead the side, it would be rash opponents who took Kampong for granted.

By contrast with the stability elsewhere there has been something of a revolving door at the Bermweg, where Sparta 1888 have seen several departures, the most notable of them the transfer of young quick Max Hoornweg to VOC; he has, however, metaphorically passed former international Ahsan Malik somewhere on the A20 as the latter will be appearing in Sparta colours this year.

Another absentee will be last season’s overseas player, Garnett Tarr, who will be with Scottish club Kelburne. He will be replaced by 31-year-old Tripura and former Gujarat batter Samit Gohil, who once made 359 not out for Gujarat in a quarter-final of the Ranji Trophy.

Other acquisitions at the Bermweg include the returning Sandeep Sardha and Belgium pace man Khalid Ahmadi, while Mudassar Bukhari is likely to again be the mainstay of the side with both bat and ball.

Prithviraj Balwantsingh played some useful knocks last year in a team which was generally short of runs, and the Capelle club will be hoping for a better season for the always-dangerous Ali Raza; on the bowling side, Bukhari, Malik and Ahmadi will have the support of fellow-seamers Joost Martijn Snoep and Nasratullah Ibrahimkhil.

If Sparta is to make a serious challenge for a top three spot it will, one suspects, be the bowlers who get them there.

Change is also the order of the day at ACC, another side who found runs hard to come by in 2021.

They will be strengthened by the advent of three South Africans: 27-year-old Limpopo opener Thomas Hobson and two players from Durban’s Amanzimtoti club, Robin Smith, who has experience with Llandudno in Wales and Langley in Cheshire and who was recently selected for the KwaZulu-Natal Coastal side, and Rob Ackerman.

The Amsterdammers will be delighted at the return of Charles McInerney from injury, and will be hoping that their South African trio will create greater space for the development of their crop of promising youngsters, such as seamers Aryan Kumar and Mees van Vliet, batter Shreyas Potdar, and 16-year-old spinner Zinesh Master, who had a sensational debut last season, taking five for 30 against Dosti on his first Topklasse outing.

With Anis Raza, Devanshu Arya and Chris Knoll all lending solidity to the side ACC will be hoping to hold their own in what promises to be a very tight competition, but they will do extremely well to make the cut at the beginning of June.

Voorburg turn heads with Malan, Potgieter signings

Bertus de Jong 07/04/22

2021 Topklasse runners-up Voorburg CC caused something of a stir when they announced a slew of signings ahead of the 2022 season, most prominent among them South African international batsman, Janneman Malan. Also joining VCC during the season is Malan’s elder brother, South West Districts all-rounder Andre Malan, as well as Delano Potgieter, another right arm seam all-rounder who plays for North West Dragons and also impressed for SA Emerging XI on their recent tour to Namibia, while Netherlands international Logan van Beek will be back for the 2022 season.

Janneman Malan, who was recently awarded a central contract with Cricket South Africa and won the ICC men’s emerging player of the year last year, is the most high-profile signing by a Topklasse club in some time, but he will not be staying for the entire season, arriving too late for the first round owing to his upcoming wedding and departing mid-June to join up with the South African team.

In fact all three of the South African trio as well as Van Beek will miss some part of the season, explained VCC Chair Kobus Nel, with van Beek’s wedding plans in New Zealand similarly seeing him arrive late and Potgieter staying only until mid-July, while Andre Malan will play only the back end of the season after his brother’s departure.

Though delighted with the prospect, Nel provided context to their signings, stressing that the Malan brothers’ staggered stints at VCC will in effect be covering for Sybrand Engelbrecht, who is recovering from shoulder surgery. “Sybrand’s not likely to play much this season. We’re hopeful that perhaps towards the end of the season he may be able to play some games, but it’s far from certain.” Nel added that it is also through Engelbrecht that the Malans come to VCC. “They are good friends of Sybrand’s, so it’s very much a personal connection.”

Potgieter too, comes to the club via via as the Dutch say. Emiel Bam, new to the VCC coaching team, knows Potgieter after coaching him earlier in his cricket development journey, and made the connection with the club. “Delano thought a spell in the Netherlands during the South African winter would be both good for his game and an exciting new life experience.” The seam all-rounder will also provide a measure of cover for Van Beek, who was unavailable for parts of last season and like a number of our players will likely be regularly called upon by the national team during what looks set to be a packed international summer. “Logan has been great for us of course, both on the field and for the club community, but he missed a number of games last year playing in England. The Dutch have a full schedule that will put substantial physical demands on our national players, so it’s good to have Delano for the first part of the season both for the team and also assisting club wide on the coaching side of things.”

Nel emphasised the value of the signings from a development perspective above all. “We’ve tried to take a holistic approach to move things forward, always putting our members first. What we’re striving to do is gradually raise the standard from the bottom up, from the juniors, through amateurs and up to the professional level. Having players like Janneman, Andre, Delano and Logan over for a spell is great for the whole club, and especially to support the development of our local international players. But it’s part of a broader aim where we’re attempting to create a cricket centre of excellence in which all involved can have the opportunity to develop their full potential. We have been doing this with our facilities, more recently our indoor facility and hybrid grass wickets, and strive to keep on improving all facets of our cricket club environment. Obviously signing especially Janneman has drawn a fair bit of attention, but that can only be a good thing for the league and Dutch cricket as a whole.”

In addition to the South African trio and the returning Van Beek, VCC also added brothers Musa and Shariz Ahmed to their roster for the coming season. Musa Ahmed, a Dutch-capped left handed opening bat, comes over from HCC while the younger Shariz, a leg spinner, who is also in the national set-up, joins from Groen en Wit. Conversely Netherlands international Aryan Dutt has departed the club for VRA.

Nel finished off by saying, “we’re excited about the season, but more importantly about the strong building blocks we’re putting in place to confidently move VCC into the future.”

Topklasse Team of the Year 2021

Bertus de Jong & Rod Lyall 08/10/21

Having had some time to reflect on the highs and lows of a fortunately full season 2021 of Topklasse, we at TKcricket are once again seating ourselves in the selector’s chair (or bench?) to fill out the roster for the 2021 Topklasse Team of the Year.

BdJ: Once again the easiest pick this year is also the first, VOC’s Max O’Dowd appears at the top of the run aggregates this year, and so at the top of our batting order. His 820 runs at a shade over 63 included five 50s and three centuries, and the Netherlands’ opener has been unmatched at the top of the order all season. The question of who partners him at the top is a little trickier, however. VCC’s keeper-opener Mohit Hingorani deserves a mention, having had a quietly effective season seeing off the new ball at Westvliet, and this despite the added burden of keeping to the league’s most intimidating pace attack, a task which he has performed admirably. But his numbers just don’t quite justify a claim to an opening slot, nor indeed the gloves, over O’Dowd’s usual partner at the top of VOC’s line-up, Scott Edwards. Edwards’ tally of 533 runs at 53 certainly makes a strong case for including him alongside O’Dowd, but for the fact that this season Edwards could not always be relied upon to take the field at the top of the order as scheduled. Assuming we’re not willing to risk our Team of the Year opener being caught short at the start of the innings, Edwards’ natural spot, it seems to me, is that of “floater.” This would also make room for Punjab’s Stephan Myburgh, who didn’t quite replicate his phenomenal showing last season but nonetheless racked up 570 runs at a brisk strike rate of 109.6, along with a Topklasse winner’s medal of course.

RL: In a season in which several well-established openers couldn’t quite come up to expectations – one thinks of VRA’s Vikram Singh (338 at 21.12), HCC’s Tonny Staal (261 at 21.75), Myburgh’s partner at Punjab, Rehmat Zulfiqar (334 at 19.65), and Tobias Visée (231 at 17.77) – the choice of O’Dowd and Myburgh seems immensely reasonable. It may be that the wettest summer in living memory had something to do with the batters’ modest returns, but it also confirms a pattern whereby Dutch-produced players have been less successful with the bat than with the ball.

RL: The same applies to the rest of the top six, which makes it all the more sensible to adopt m’colleague’s suggestion and bat Edwards at four or five. My number three would be Punjab’s Asad Zulfiqar, whose 529 runs at 37.79 lent solidity to a top order which blazed brightly much of the time but which could be extinguished on occasion. Asad hit three fifties, and the same argument of consistency in a line-up which often faltered leads me to find a place for VRA’s Eric Szwarczynski in his valedictory season; he only played 14 matches, but made 345 runs at 28.75, including four half-centuries. Another strong contender, if we pick him as a batsman-who-can-bowl rather than as an out-and-out all-rounder, is Navjit Singh of HBS, who contributed 519 runs at 39.92, earning himself a place in the Dutch A squad. This assumes we aren’t going to avail ourselves of the services of one of the handful of overseas players who graced the competition this year; if we are, then there’s a quartet of contenders for a spot in the top order.

BdJ: We’ve not specified our rules regarding overseas players with any more clarity than the League itself, but whatever the allowance you’d think Tayo Walbrugh’s 780 runs at 65 for HBS would give him a stronger claim to the number three slot than any potential challenger, likewise even if we count the Netherlands-eligible Tristan Stubbs as an overseas for as long as Cricket South Africa continue to be difficult about his potential call-up, his three figure average for Excelsior makes a strong case for finding space for him in the top order despite his early departure. Sybrand Engelbrecht’s overseas status must likewise be fading somewhat now that he’s settled in the Netherlands, though the desire to include him may stem somewhat from recency bias, having had a fairly quiet season until his magnificent innings against VRA propelled VCC into the final. Among the overseas contingent Garnett Tarr also deserves at least an honourable mention, his 637 runs at a shade under 40 one of the few positives for Sparta in an otherwise miserable season. All told Walbrugh and Stubbs remain head and shoulders above the rest of the Topklasse pros this season however, and would be my picks if we restrict ourselves to the rather retro two-overseas maximum. If the gloves go to Edwards I’d say Navjit Singh shades it over Asad Zulfiqar or Szwarczynski, by a distance the most improved bat in the competition over the past couple of seasons, and his busier, hard-running style makes him a fine foil to his HBS team-mate Walbrugh and the big-hitting Stubbs.

BdJ: On to the all-rounders, and two names immediately stand out here, or one if we’re going by surnames. Sikander and Saqib Zulfiqar have both had excellent seasons with bat and ball, and indeed their stats these season look as similar as do the brothers themselves. Both averaging just over 30 with the bat, and 27 wickets each with the ball, the pair have been instrumental in Punjab’s successful title run throughout the season. Sikander’s game-changing century in the first qualifier was a strong contender for knock of the season, and the pair’s six consecutive wickets were instrumental in the Rotterdammers defending 157 against VCC in the final. HCC’s Hidde Overdijk likely has the next strongest claim, despite only playing 12 matches, 19 wickets at 15.5 and 225 runs at 44.8 is an excellent return. VCC’s Bas de Leede, with 26 wickets at 12.4, would be a tempting option as a bowling all-rounder despite a middling season with the bat.

RL: Of the faster bowlers, De Leede’s season looked up after a slowish start, but Overdijk’s contribution to the HCC attack during that period when they were consistently ripping through opponents’ top order – the run which would have taken them into the play-offs but for that nonsense in the final round – gives him the edge in my view, as a bowler who can bat if not as an allrounder. But pride of place among the pacemen must go to Ryan Klein of HBS, whose 27 wickets at 12.93 gave his side’s attack an invaluable cutting edge. Not far behind comes Voorburg’s Viv Kingma, who claimed 23 at 12.78 despite another bout of injury worries; his partnership with Logan van Beek (who deserves an honourable mention in the allrounders category) was a key factor in the side’s elevated position, and their absence mid-season was a considerable blow. An honourable mention, too, for Suleiman Tariq, both as a tireless seamer who often bowled his ten overs unchanged, and as a canny captain, whose role in Punjab’s first championship should not be underestimated.

BdJ: Klein’s appearances in an orange shirt this summer have put his local status beyond question, and his place near the top of the wickets table would make him a shoe-in for this side even without his occasional but crucial cameos for HBS with the bat. Of the competitors to share the new ball Kingma has the edge over his VCC partner van Beek or Punjab’s Tariq by dint of his superior strike rate, and by the same token I’d say De Leede probably has the strongest claim as first change, and if we are to go with four seamers likely worth his spot as a dedicated bowler this season. That doesn’t leave us a lot of room in the spin section of course, if Stubbs and Saqib Zulfiqar both make the cut we’ve only one slow-bowling slot to play with, and despite some notable performances filling it ought not to be the toughest assignment for the selectors.

RL: If O’Dowd is the first name on the sheet, HCC’s slow left-armer Clayton Floyd is fairly certainly the second: with 37 wickets at an average of 7.32 he was ten wickets ahead of his nearest rivals, and he claimed five in an innings on three occasions. That gives us two or three spinners turning the ball away from the right-handers, but to be fair none of the leading off-spinners has made an overwhelming case for inclusion. With 26 wickets Voorburg’s Philippe Boissevain, another leggie, deserves a shout-out, while another to watch out for in future is VOC youngster Siebe van Wingerden, who only bowled 65.1 overs in his 16 matches but still took 22 wickets at 13.77 and finished seventh in the bowling averages. That gives us then, an almost settled selection, with issues balance leaving us with one spot still up for debate…

BdJ: Saqib Zulfiqar or Bas de Leede is indeed the last question left to us, and though it leaves the side looking a little spin-heavy I feel that team balance must take a back seat to the weight of a champion’s medal in this case. Cruel as the cut may be, one hopes that de Leede will be able to find some solace in his call-up for the Netherland’s World Cup squad.

Our Topklasse Team of the Year:

Max O’Dowd (VOC), Stephan Myburgh (Punjab), Tayo Walbrugh (HBS), Navjit Singh (HBS), Tristan Stubbs (Excelsior), Scott Edwards (VOC), Saqib Zulfiqar (Punjab), Sikander Zulfiqar (Punjab), Clayton Floyd (HCC), Ryan Klein (HBS), Vivian Kingma (Voorburg)

12th man: Sieb Van Wingerden (VOC).

Previous Seasons TOTY | 2020 | 2019 | 2018

Scorecard | Final | Punjab vs VCC | 05.09.21

Batter	Fielder	Bowler	Runs	Bls	4s	6s
SJ Myburgh	c BFW de Leede	b VJ Kingma	24	20	4	1
RU Zulfiqar	c A Dutt	b GK Nieuwoudt	17	48	1	1
AA Zulfiqar+	lbw	b BFW de Leede	30	56	4	0
SM Zulfiqar	lbw	b PRP Boissevain	22	34	4	0
SA Zulfiqar		b LV van Beek	14	17	2	0
I Ul Haq		b BFW de Leede	11	18	1	0
MMA Bajwa	st M Hingorani	b PRP Boissevain	4	38	0	0
S Bhatti	c M Hingorani	b LV van Beek	1	5	0	0
Y Usman	c M Hingorani	b VJ Kingma	14	24	2	0
S Tariq*	c PRP Boissevain	b A Dutt	3	6	0	0
Mubashar Hussain	not out		3	20	0	0
extras		(b0 lb3 w10 nb1)	14
TOTAL		10 wickets for	157

FOW
1-31(SJ Myburgh) 2-53(RU Zulfiqar) 3-102(SM Zulfiqar) 4-104(AA Zulfiqar) 5-125(SA Zulfiqar) 6-129(I Ul Haq) 7-130(S Bhatti) 8-146(Y Usman) 9-149(S Tariq) 10-157(MMA Bajwa)

Bowler	Overs	Maid	Runs	Wkts	wd	nb
A Dutt	10	1	29	1	–	–
VJ Kingma	8	3	14	2	–	–
LV van Beek	10	1	26	2	3	–
GK Nieuwoudt	7	1	26	1	2	–
PRP Boissevain	6.3	0	41	2	1	1
BFW de Leede	6	0	18	2	–	–

Batter	Fielder	Bowler	Runs	Bls	4s	6s
M Hingorani+	run out S Bhatti		5	24	0	0
TN de Grooth	c AA Zulfiqar	b S Bhatti	0	2	0	0
BFW de Leede*	c SM Zulfiqar	b S Tariq	9	7	1	0
SA Engelbrecht	c MMA Bajwa	b S Tariq	7	20	1	0
A Dutt	c AA Zulfiqar	b SM Zulfiqar	35	82	3	1
LV van Beek		b SA Zulfiqar	19	26	2	1
GK Nieuwoudt	c AA Zulfiqar	b SA Zulfiqar	2	9	0	0
PRP Boissevain	c SM Zulfiqar	b SA Zulfiqar	0	1	0	0
FJ de Lange	lbw	b SA Zulfiqar	2	6	0	0
VJ Kingma	c Mubashar Hussain	b SM Zulfiqar	1	8	0	0
ST Mulder	not out		5	9	1	0
extras		(b4 lb0 w13 nb0)	17
TOTAL		10 wickets for	102

FOW
1-2(TN de Grooth) 2-12(BFW de Leede) 3-19(M Hingorani) 4-27(SA Engelbrecht) 5-60(LV van Beek) 6-64(GK Nieuwoudt) 7-72(PRP Boissevain) 8-75(FJ de Lange) 9-85(VJ Kingma) 10-102(A Dutt)

Bowler	Overs	Maid	Runs	Wkts	wd	nb
S Tariq	10	4	26	2	–	–
S Bhatti	3	0	16	1	4	–
Mubashar Hussain	6	0	17	0	5	–
SA Zulfiqar	7	0	22	4	4	–
SM Zulfiqar	6.1	1	17	2	–	–

Punjab I Vs Voorburg I

1-Innings Match Played At Zomercomplex, Rotterdam, 05-Sep-2021, Topklasse

Punjab I Win by 55 runs

Round GF

Toss won by Voorburg I

Umpires RJ Akram – N Bathi – AND van den Dries

Home Side Punjab I

Points Awarded Punjab I 4, Voorburg I 0

Punjab I 1st Innings 157/10 All Out (Overs 47.3)

Batter Fielder Bowler Runs Bls 4s 6s

SJ Myburgh c BFW de Leede b VJ Kingma 24 20 4 1

RU Zulfiqar c A Dutt b GK Nieuwoudt 17 48 1 1

AA Zulfiqar+ lbw b BFW de Leede 30 56 4 0

SM Zulfiqar lbw b PRP Boissevain 22 34 4 0

SA Zulfiqar b LV van Beek 14 17 2 0

I Ul Haq b BFW de Leede 11 18 1 0

MMA Bajwa st M Hingorani b PRP Boissevain 4 38 0 0

S Bhatti c M Hingorani b LV van Beek 1 5 0 0

Y Usman c M Hingorani b VJ Kingma 14 24 2 0

S Tariq* c PRP Boissevain b A Dutt 3 6 0 0

Mubashar Hussain not out 3 20 0 0

extras (b0 lb3 w10 nb1) 14

TOTAL 10 wickets for 157

FOW

1-31(SJ Myburgh) 2-53(RU Zulfiqar) 3-102(SM Zulfiqar) 4-104(AA Zulfiqar) 5-125(SA Zulfiqar) 6-129(I Ul Haq) 7-130(S Bhatti) 8-146(Y Usman) 9-149(S Tariq) 10-157(MMA Bajwa)

Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb

A Dutt 10 1 29 1 – –

VJ Kingma 8 3 14 2 – –

LV van Beek 10 1 26 2 3 –

GK Nieuwoudt 7 1 26 1 2 –

PRP Boissevain 6.3 0 41 2 1 1

BFW de Leede 6 0 18 2 – –

Voorburg I 1st Innings 102/10 All Out (Overs 32.1)

Batter Fielder Bowler Runs Bls 4s 6s

M Hingorani+ run out S Bhatti 5 24 0 0

TN de Grooth c AA Zulfiqar b S Bhatti 0 2 0 0

BFW de Leede* c SM Zulfiqar b S Tariq 9 7 1 0

SA Engelbrecht c MMA Bajwa b S Tariq 7 20 1 0

A Dutt c AA Zulfiqar b SM Zulfiqar 35 82 3 1

LV van Beek b SA Zulfiqar 19 26 2 1

GK Nieuwoudt c AA Zulfiqar b SA Zulfiqar 2 9 0 0

PRP Boissevain c SM Zulfiqar b SA Zulfiqar 0 1 0 0

FJ de Lange lbw b SA Zulfiqar 2 6 0 0

VJ Kingma c Mubashar Hussain b SM Zulfiqar 1 8 0 0

ST Mulder not out 5 9 1 0

extras (b4 lb0 w13 nb0) 17

TOTAL 10 wickets for 102

FOW

1-2(TN de Grooth) 2-12(BFW de Leede) 3-19(M Hingorani) 4-27(SA Engelbrecht) 5-60(LV van Beek) 6-64(GK Nieuwoudt) 7-72(PRP Boissevain) 8-75(FJ de Lange) 9-85(VJ Kingma) 10-102(A Dutt)

Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb

S Tariq 10 4 26 2 – –

S Bhatti 3 0 16 1 4 –

Mubashar Hussain 6 0 17 0 5 –

SA Zulfiqar 7 0 22 4 4 –

SM Zulfiqar 6.1 1 17 2 – –

Scorecard | Qualifier 2 | VCC vs VRA | 04.09.21

Batter	Fielder	Bowler	Runs	Bls	4s	6s
V Singh	c SA Engelbrecht	b A Dutt	31	62	3	0
L Scully		b LV van Beek	39	27	8	0
BN Cooper	c A Dutt	b PRP Boissevain	22	42	3	0
ES Szwarczynski		b VJ Kingma	41	86	3	0
PW Borren*	c M Hingorani	b PRP Boissevain	1	3	0	0
J Balbirnie	c M Hingorani	b PRP Boissevain	16	41	0	0
LA Turmaine	lbw	b GK Nieuwoudt	4	7	0	0
MB Lees+	not out		16	36	2	0
QWM Gunning	dnb
A Abid	dnb
U Nashier	dnb
extras		(b0 lb6 w30 nb4)	40
TOTAL		7 wickets for	210

FOW
1-54(L Scully) 2-112(BN Cooper) 3-112(V Singh) 4-113(PW Borren) 5-164(J Balbirnie) 6-170(LA Turmaine) 7-210(ES Szwarczynski)

Bowler	Overs	Runs	Wkts	wd	nb
VJ Kingma	8	39	1	2	1
GK Nieuwoudt	6	37	1	4	3
A Dutt	10	33	1	5	–
LV van Beek	9	42	1	4	–
BFW de Leede	3	16	0	2	–
PRP Boissevain	10	25	3	1	–
ST Mulder	4	12	0	2	–

Batter	Fielder	Bowler	Runs	Bls	4s	6s
M Hingorani+	lbw	b QWM Gunning	1	4	0	0
TN de Grooth	c L Scully	b V Singh	29	41	3	0
BFW de Leede*	run out U Nashier/MB Lees		5	14	1	0
SA Engelbrecht	not out		103	135	10	0
A Dutt	c PW Borren	b U Nashier	1	8	0	0
LV van Beek	c BN Cooper	b LA Turmaine	38	63	2	2
GK Nieuwoudt	not out		30	23	2	1
PRP Boissevain	dnb
VJ Kingma	dnb
FJ de Lange	dnb
ST Mulder	dnb
extras		(b2 lb0 w5 nb0)	7
TOTAL		5 wickets for	214

FOW
1-6(M Hingorani) 2-19(BFW de Leede) 3-70(TN de Grooth) 4-73(A Dutt) 5-151(LV van Beek)

Bowler	Overs	Maid	Runs	Wkts	wd	nb
QWM Gunning	8	0	39	1	4	–
A Abid	4	0	17	0	1	–
LA Turmaine	10	0	63	1	–	–
U Nashier	10	1	34	1	–	–
V Singh	6	0	15	1	–	–
PW Borren	9	0	39	0	–	–
J Balbirnie	1	0	5	0	–	–

Voorburg I Vs VRA I

1-Innings Match Played At Westvliet, Voorburg, 04-Sep-2021, Topklasse

Voorburg I Win by 5 wkts

Round PF

Toss won by Voorburg I

Umpires AND van den Dries – E Ruchtie – D Das

Home Side Voorburg I

Points Awarded VRA I 0, Voorburg I 4

VRA I 1st Innings 210/7 Closed (Overs 50)

Batter Fielder Bowler Runs Bls 4s 6s

V Singh c SA Engelbrecht b A Dutt 31 62 3 0

L Scully b LV van Beek 39 27 8 0

BN Cooper c A Dutt b PRP Boissevain 22 42 3 0

ES Szwarczynski b VJ Kingma 41 86 3 0

PW Borren* c M Hingorani b PRP Boissevain 1 3 0 0

J Balbirnie c M Hingorani b PRP Boissevain 16 41 0 0

LA Turmaine lbw b GK Nieuwoudt 4 7 0 0

MB Lees+ not out 16 36 2 0

QWM Gunning dnb

A Abid dnb

U Nashier dnb

extras (b0 lb6 w30 nb4) 40

TOTAL 7 wickets for 210

FOW

1-54(L Scully) 2-112(BN Cooper) 3-112(V Singh) 4-113(PW Borren) 5-164(J Balbirnie) 6-170(LA Turmaine) 7-210(ES Szwarczynski)

Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb

VJ Kingma 8 0 39 1 2 1

GK Nieuwoudt 6 0 37 1 4 3

A Dutt 10 0 33 1 5 –

LV van Beek 9 0 42 1 4 –

BFW de Leede 3 0 16 0 2 –

PRP Boissevain 10 0 25 3 1 –

ST Mulder 4 0 12 0 2 –

Voorburg I 1st Innings 214/5 (Overs 48)

Batter Fielder Bowler Runs Bls 4s 6s

M Hingorani+ lbw b QWM Gunning 1 4 0 0

TN de Grooth c L Scully b V Singh 29 41 3 0

BFW de Leede* run out U Nashier/MB Lees 5 14 1 0

SA Engelbrecht not out 103 135 10 0

A Dutt c PW Borren b U Nashier 1 8 0 0

LV van Beek c BN Cooper b LA Turmaine 38 63 2 2

GK Nieuwoudt not out 30 23 2 1

PRP Boissevain dnb

VJ Kingma dnb

FJ de Lange dnb

ST Mulder dnb

extras (b2 lb0 w5 nb0) 7

TOTAL 5 wickets for 214

FOW

1-6(M Hingorani) 2-19(BFW de Leede) 3-70(TN de Grooth) 4-73(A Dutt) 5-151(LV van Beek)

Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb

QWM Gunning 8 0 39 1 4 –

A Abid 4 0 17 0 1 –

LA Turmaine 10 0 63 1 – –

U Nashier 10 1 34 1 – –

V Singh 6 0 15 1 – –

PW Borren 9 0 39 0 – –

J Balbirnie 1 0 5 0 – –

Scorecard | Qualifier 1 | Punjab vs VCC | 29.08.21

Batter	Fielder	Bowler	Runs	Bls	4s	6s
M Hingorani+		b Mubashar Hussain	18	44	1	0
TN de Grooth		b Mubashar Hussain	22	47	3	0
BFW de Leede*	c AA Zulfiqar	b I Ul Haq	38	75	2	1
SA Engelbrecht		c&b SM Zulfiqar	59	82	4	0
A Dutt	c sub	b SM Zulfiqar	15	16	1	1
LV van Beek	c Y Usman	b I Ul Haq	40	23	1	4
FJ de Lange	run out Y Usman/AA Zulfiqar		10	13	1	0
PRP Boissevain	not out		0	0	0	0
VJ Kingma	dnb
ST Mulder	dnb
N Kulkarni	dnb
extras		(b1 lb0 w6 nb0)	7
TOTAL		7 wickets for	209

FOW
1-39(TN de Grooth) 2-48(M Hingorani) 3-126(BFW de Leede) 4-147(A Dutt) 5-164(SA Engelbrecht) 6-208(LV van Beek) 7-209(FJ de Lange)

Bowler	Overs	Maid	Runs	Wkts	wd	nb
S Bhatti	5	1	28	0	6	–
S Tariq	10	2	24	0	–	–
Mubashar Hussain	10	2	16	2	–	–
SA Zulfiqar	4	1	22	0	–	–
SM Zulfiqar	10	0	63	2	–	–
AT Nidamanuru	1.1	0	4	0	–	–
I Ul Haq	9.5	0	51	2	–	–

Batter	Fielder	Bowler	Runs	Bls	4s	6s
SJ Myburgh	c M Hingorani	b VJ Kingma	11	8	2	0
RU Zulfiqar		b LV van Beek	10	35	2	0
AA Zulfiqar+	lbw	b VJ Kingma	8	18	2	0
SM Zulfiqar	lbw	b A Dutt	4	21	0	0
SA Zulfiqar	not out		114	116	6	5
I Ul Haq	c M Hingorani	b BFW de Leede	1	11	0	0
Y Usman		b BFW de Leede	0	3	0	0
S Tariq*	c TN de Grooth	b LV van Beek	18	42	2	0
S Bhatti	not out		31	38	1	0
Mubashar Hussain	dnb
AT Nidamanuru	dnb
extras		(b0 lb2 w10 nb2)	14
TOTAL		7 wickets for	211

FOW
1-15(SJ Myburgh) 2-29(AA Zulfiqar) 3-31(RU Zulfiqar) 4-44(SM Zulfiqar) 5-51(I Ul Haq) 6-52(Y Usman) 7-93(S Tariq)

Bowler	Overs	Maid	Runs	Wkts	wd	nb
A Dutt	10	3	16	1	–	–
VJ Kingma	10	2	38	2	–	1
LV van Beek	10	1	38	2	3	–
BFW de Leede	9.2	0	54	2	6	1
ST Mulder	8	0	57	0	1	–
PRP Boissevain	1	0	6	0	–	–

Voorburg I Vs Punjab I

1-Innings Match Played At Zomercomplex, Rotterdam, 29-Aug-2021, Topklasse

Punjab I Win by 3 wkts

Round SF

Toss won by Punjab I

Umpires ML Hancock – WPM van Liemt

Home Side Voorburg I

Points Awarded Voorburg I 0, Punjab I 4

Voorburg I 1st Innings 209/7 Closed (Overs 50)

Batter Fielder Bowler Runs Bls 4s 6s

M Hingorani+ b Mubashar Hussain 18 44 1 0

TN de Grooth b Mubashar Hussain 22 47 3 0

BFW de Leede* c AA Zulfiqar b I Ul Haq 38 75 2 1

SA Engelbrecht c&b SM Zulfiqar 59 82 4 0

A Dutt c sub b SM Zulfiqar 15 16 1 1

LV van Beek c Y Usman b I Ul Haq 40 23 1 4

FJ de Lange run out Y Usman/AA Zulfiqar 10 13 1 0

PRP Boissevain not out 0 0 0 0

VJ Kingma dnb

ST Mulder dnb

N Kulkarni dnb

extras (b1 lb0 w6 nb0) 7

TOTAL 7 wickets for 209

FOW

1-39(TN de Grooth) 2-48(M Hingorani) 3-126(BFW de Leede) 4-147(A Dutt) 5-164(SA Engelbrecht) 6-208(LV van Beek) 7-209(FJ de Lange)

Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb

S Bhatti 5 1 28 0 6 –

S Tariq 10 2 24 0 – –

Mubashar Hussain 10 2 16 2 – –

SA Zulfiqar 4 1 22 0 – –

SM Zulfiqar 10 0 63 2 – –

AT Nidamanuru 1.1 0 4 0 – –

I Ul Haq 9.5 0 51 2 – –

Punjab I 1st Innings 211/7 (Overs 48.2)

Batter Fielder Bowler Runs Bls 4s 6s

SJ Myburgh c M Hingorani b VJ Kingma 11 8 2 0

RU Zulfiqar b LV van Beek 10 35 2 0

AA Zulfiqar+ lbw b VJ Kingma 8 18 2 0

SM Zulfiqar lbw b A Dutt 4 21 0 0

SA Zulfiqar not out 114 116 6 5

I Ul Haq c M Hingorani b BFW de Leede 1 11 0 0

Y Usman b BFW de Leede 0 3 0 0

S Tariq* c TN de Grooth b LV van Beek 18 42 2 0

S Bhatti not out 31 38 1 0

Mubashar Hussain dnb

AT Nidamanuru dnb

extras (b0 lb2 w10 nb2) 14

TOTAL 7 wickets for 211

FOW

1-15(SJ Myburgh) 2-29(AA Zulfiqar) 3-31(RU Zulfiqar) 4-44(SM Zulfiqar) 5-51(I Ul Haq) 6-52(Y Usman) 7-93(S Tariq)

Bowler Overs Maid Runs Wkts wd nb

A Dutt 10 3 16 1 – –

VJ Kingma 10 2 38 2 – 1

LV van Beek 10 1 38 2 3 –

BFW de Leede 9.2 0 54 2 6 1

ST Mulder 8 0 57 0 1 –

PRP Boissevain 1 0 6 0 – –

Topklasse 2022: The case for a two-pool solution

Rod Lyall 11/09/21

Trying back in March-April to get an elite competition up and running, and faced with the reluctance of the Topklasse clubs to run the risk of relegation and the wish of the Hoofdklasse clubs, should pandemic conditions permit the lower divisions to play at all, to play for promotion, the KNCB Board decided to expand the Topklasse to 12 teams for 2022.

This understandable solution, however, would run for only one season, and it brought with it considerable problems: 2022 is likely to be one of the busiest in the history of Dutch cricket, with home Super League series against Pakistan, England and the West Indies, and this will put great pressure on the fixture list in a year in which at least two, and possibly three, sides would be facing relegation as the Topklasse reverted to ten teams.

[This pre-empts, of course, the ongoing discussion about the optimal competition structure, where there are powerful arguments for going still further, and ultimately reducing the top division back to eight sides.]

A full twelve-team double round robin, which last applied in the Netherlands in 1997, would require 22 playing dates, plus any finals which might be agreed – and that’s without considering any demand that rained-off matches should be replayed.

Even if the competition started on the unprecedentedly early last weekend of April and observed no traditional ‘free weekend’ in late July, it would still take until the first Sunday in September to complete the round-robin phase, although it could be compressed if clubs were prepared to agree to some double weekends.

And on the evidence of this season, that seems pretty unlikely.

If we accept that in view of the international schedule there are no more than 16-18 available playing dates, the Board therefore faced two broad alternatives: a single, home-or-away round robin followed by a further top-six/bottom-six home-or-away phase, or a double round robin in two groups followed by a Super Six and Bottom Six (both 16 matches).

Neither is without its difficulties, but the Board, on the advice of a working party which included club and player representatives as well as Competition Manager Bart Kroesen and High Performance Manager Roland Lefebvre, has reportedly opted for the latter, apparently on the grounds that it would be inequitable for some clubs to have to play only seven home games as against nine away.

My own view, in contrast with that of Bertus de Jong, is that is this on balance the better option, although I accept that it’s an issue on which legitimate disagreement is possible, perhaps even inevitable.

One objection to the group arrangement, forcefully made by Bertus, is that given the season-on-season fluctuation in teams’ relative strength the groups are very likely to be unequal , especially if there is an influx of overseas players next year.

[Again, whether the KNCB should or can take steps to limit that influx is a separate issue, but one which should not be ignored.]

This is a problem easily dealt with, though, by basing the rankings on, say, a three-year average of placings rather than simply on 2021, a season influenced not only by the relative sparseness of overseas players but also by the stramash between HCC and VOC. Such a three-year average would produce the following rankings:

Team	2021	2019-21
Punjab	1	1
HCC	4	2
Voorburg	2	3
VRA	3	4
HBS	5	5
Excelsior	7	6
ACC	8	7
Sparta	9	8
VOC	6	9
Dosti	10	10

Some shifts, then, but with the main exception of VOC, a difference of no more than a place or two in the rankings. Using the traditional seeding system, this would produce the following groups:
Group A: Punjab, VRA, HBS, Sparta, VOC, Kampong.
Group B: HCC, Voorburg, Excelsior, ACC, Dosti, Salland.

As for the problem of the transition from the first phase to the second, even a career of nearly forty years in university politics and more than a quarter-century in Dutch cricket have not equipped my mind for the sort of Byzantine intricacies Bertus de Jong envisages in his scenarios for ‘perverse’ results and competitievervalsing.

Both carrying all the first phase points through and only those from matches against the other sides which progress have both been tried elsewhere, and I am not aware of any documented cases of such willful manipulation of results in order to procure an unfair outcome.

The odds on such a situation arising are, I think, extremely long, and while I don’t in any way underestimate Dutch clubs’ capacity for finagling, I’m inclined to believe that watchful umpires and match referees are capable of dealing effectively with any such problems should they arise.

And let’s not forget that this is an arrangement which will apply for just one season in fairly extreme circumstances; it’s not a system which anyone is proposing should operate in perpetuity.

That leaves the question of relegation, where the Board has decided that the 11th- and 12th-placed sides will be relegated automatically, while the side finishing tenth will face a play-off against next year’s Hoofdklasse champions to decide who plays in the 2023 Topklasse.

This is essentially a repeat of what happened in 1997, and again in 2009 when the top division was reduced from ten teams to eight.

Once again, this seems to be the least-worst solution: no promotion at all is obviously not an option, and to have three sides going down directly would be unacceptably savage.

The scheme may not be ideal, and no doubt every aspect of it could be tweaked one way or another, but in view of all the constraints it seems to me to be a reasonable compromise as a one-off resolution of the problems as we emerge from the pandemic crisis.

Better Together – A two-pool 2022 Topklasse is a recipe for rancour

Bertus de Jong 08/09/21

With a successful 2021 season only just behind us, it may seem a bit early to start worrying about next season. But the KNCB and the clubs face a rather tricky predicament when it comes to the 2022 Topklasse, with an packed international Summer that will see ODI series against England, the West Indies and Pakistan clogging up the calendar, two new arrivals to the expanded top division in the promoted Kampong and Salland, and the prospect of a return to relegation with likely three teams dropping back down to the Hoofdklasse for 2024, devising an appropriate and equitable format for next year’s domestic fifty over competition poses a practically unprecedented challenge.

That challenge does not, as it stands, look likely to be met.

The current proposal that has been put to the clubs, TK Cricket understands, involves splitting the 12 Topklasse teams into two pools for the first phase of the season, with each pool to play a double round-robin before the field is split into a top six and a bottom six. The top three teams from each pool would then play home and away fixtures against the three top teams from the other side of the draw, with a similar format for the bottom six. Following the conclusion of this second phase the top two teams would contest a one-match final, while at the other end of the table the bottom two teams would be relgated automatically, while the tenth-placed team would play a relegation play-off against the Hoofklasse champions.

At first glance this seems a sensible enough system, condensing a twelve-team league into just 16 rounds (plus a single final and one relegation match). There are, however, significant problems with such a format both in terms of practicality and fairness.

The most obvious (if least serious) of these drawbacks is that clubs are faced with the rather regrettable prospect of playing some teams twice (or potentially three times) and some not at all. This lack of variety in fixtures is not the principal problem however. The most significant issue with this two-pool system is that the two groups will be almost by definition unbalanced. There is simply no sensible way of seeding the groups to ensure that they are equally competitive. Leaving aside the fact that the final ranking of teams this season is neither clear nor uncontroversial, there is not, nor has there been been for some time, any particular correlation between any given team’s strength from one season to the next.

Fig 1: Topklasse final league standings and year-on-year change per team

Over the past five seasons, clubs on average have finished more than three places above or below where they placed the previous season (fig. 1). This degree of deviation suggests there is barely more consistency in performance year-on-year than what one might expect from pure random chance. Moreover, this issue is likely to be exaccerbated by the return of a substantial number of overseas players as the effects of the covid pandemic wane.

Splitting the league into two groups also raises the thorny question of how to calculate points carried forward into the second phase. There is, simply put, no good solution to this question. The likelihood of unevely seeded groups means that the simplest option – carrying forward all points into the second phase – gives a considerable advantage to teams that find themselves in the weaker group, as well as substantially raising the chance of dead games at the back end of the season where a number of teams may end up safely in the top six but with no prospect of making the final. In the past this has led to such teams fielding enormously understrength sides, often in the name of giving youngsters a run-out, which gives their opponents at the back end of the season a considerable unfair advantage.

The current proposal’s preferred alternative, only carrying forward points from matches against teams who end up in the same half of the table, makes clubs’ fortunes hugely dependent on neutral results. Not only could the luck of landing in an easier group improve a club’s chances of making the top six, but who else does or doesn’t get through may appreciably affect their position once they get there. Worse still, such a system also gives rise to the possibility of perverse incentives, where in the final round of the first phase a team might be better off throwing a match in order to maximise the points they carry forward into the next phase (fig 2).* Though generally most clubs are unlikely to resort to this sort of Competitievervalsing even when it is clearly in their interests to do so, an equally possible eventuality is for a team to find itself in a situation where they need only limit their margin of victory in their final match to see their opponents progress on net run rate. It is hard to imagine any team deliberately chasing a target any faster than necessary if doing so would leave them in a worse position for the second phase of the competition.

Fig 2: hypothetical first phase results yielding a table-state where Team 2 is incentivised to throw their final game vs Team 3 (see note)

It is in fact difficult to see what conceivable advantage a two-pool double round robin system has over the simpler alternative; just playing a 12-team single round robin in the first phase before splitting the field into a top six and bottom six. A simple round-robin such as that played in 2020 would span 11 rounds, only one round longer than the first phase of the current proposal. A second phase where the top six and bottom six each play a single round robin of return fixtures would take five match days, giving a 16-round league before finals – the exact same number of match days as the current proposal. The notional equity advantage of playing home and away fixtures against each pool opponent in the current proposal seems laughably insignificant in the face of the obvious inequity of teams playing different opponents altogether in the first phase, especially given that under a simple 12-team round robin followed by return fixtures played among the top and bottom half of the table in the second phase would all but obviate this advantage. A single round robin first phase would also eliminate the potential for perverse incentives in the last round of league play and the prospect of teams finding themselves in a position where they could (and from a purely competitive standpoint should) seek to underperform or otherwise manipulate the result of a match in order to gain advantage later in the season.

Though the idea of a two-pool first phase is by a distance the worst (and most easily remedied) aspect of the current proposal, it is not the only drawback. At the bottom end of the table the automatic relegation of two teams is less than ideal, as it arguably means that surviving in the Topklasse next year is actually a tougher challenge from a competitive standppoint than gaining promotion from the Hoofdklasse. In effect one might argue that the two newly-promoted Topklasse clubs start next season from a worse position than their erstwhile Hoofdklasse rivals. If we are to return to a ten team Topklasse for 2023, however, it is difficult to envisage a more equitable solution given scheduling-constraints. Likewise it is regrettable but understandable given the limited space in the calendar that the finals play-off system that added so much tension to the back end of this past season will not feature next summer. If an extra day can be found there would surely be value in adding a 2^nd vs 3^rd Semi Final before the winner meets the 1^st placed side Grand Final, granting the league phase winner a genuine advantage while keeping the table alive deeper into the season, though given that whatever format is agreed in the end will likely only be used for a single season such concerns are comparatively trivial.

Ultimately the finals format and relegation question are both less consequential and harder to fix than the format of the league proper. The current proposal to split the league in two is not only wrongheaded, it is entirely unnecessary. At best it will be inequitable from a competitive standpoint, at worst it may give rise to distorted incentives and needless controversy. It has little to reccomend it over an alternative that is both simpler and fairer, and which fits equally well into the constrained calendar.

*For example, say Team 2 is assured progression from its pool on 14 points after 9 rounds, and is scheduled to play it’s final first phase game against Team 3, currently in third on 12 points, who are one point ahead of Team 4 on 11. Imagine Team 2 has beaten Team 3 in their first match, but has already lost twice to Team 4. It is then clearly in Team 2’s interests to throw their match against Team 3, in order to ensure that Team 3 also progresses. They would thus ensure they carry one win from their four games against Teams 3 and 4 through to the next phase, whereas if they were to beat Team 3 they would risk Team 4 taking third place, leaving themselves one win down in phase 2.